Comments on: I did it. http://blog.shanelmartens.com/2007/07/04/i-did-it A colloquy portrait of a woman. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:50:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Cindy Nicholson http://blog.shanelmartens.com/2007/07/04/i-did-it/comment-page-1#comment-25 Cindy Nicholson Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:02:41 +0000 http://blog.shanelmartens.com/?p=77#comment-25 You are a wise woman, Shanel, to see the trap. I remember a passage in one of the Narnia books where one of the boys turns into a dragon because he was lying on the dragon's horde and thinking greedy, dragonish thoughts. He tries to get himself free little by little, but in the end the only way to freedom is for him to let Aslan peel off the dragon skin with his long, sharp claws and then pop his now-small body into a cleansing pool. Now, a dragon horde is a little more obvious trap than a virtual world sort of game, but the trap can be the same, that slowly one's heart begins to become as invested in that world and those relationships as in the living, breathing ones nearby. The game wasn't a trap when you were playing with Ivan and with the rest of the family because the two worlds were inhabited by the same folks. I love how you saw truth and did the hard thing, Shanel. It makes me respect you highly. Cindy You are a wise woman, Shanel, to see the trap. I remember a passage in one of the Narnia books where one of the boys turns into a dragon because he was lying on the dragon’s horde and thinking greedy, dragonish thoughts. He tries to get himself free little by little, but in the end the only way to freedom is for him to let Aslan peel off the dragon skin with his long, sharp claws and then pop his now-small body into a cleansing pool. Now, a dragon horde is a little more obvious trap than a virtual world sort of game, but the trap can be the same, that slowly one’s heart begins to become as invested in that world and those relationships as in the living, breathing ones nearby. The game wasn’t a trap when you were playing with Ivan and with the rest of the family because the two worlds were inhabited by the same folks. I love how you saw truth and did the hard thing, Shanel. It makes me respect you highly.
Cindy

]]> By: stephanie http://blog.shanelmartens.com/2007/07/04/i-did-it/comment-page-1#comment-24 stephanie Wed, 04 Jul 2007 22:33:35 +0000 http://blog.shanelmartens.com/?p=77#comment-24 I can kinda sorta relate ... just a little. About 6 weeks ago I canceled my daily newspaper subscription. Now, I DO need to know the news for my job, but we get both Chicago dailies at work so I can catch up there. However, the paper always sits there seeming to be one more thing to consume. I do love reading the paper in the morning, but I just haven't had time lately. And I have so many good books and magazines laying around, as well as other projects. Combine all of that with my anger at the Chicago Tribune (I work for their competition, and they are rolling out some stuff to try and take our business) and my desire to save money for England and--the end. No more daily paper. I'm certainly going to get it again when I come back from England, but for now it's nice not to have to pick it up every morning, read it, recycle it...I do feel sort of free. I can kinda sorta relate … just a little. About 6 weeks ago I canceled my daily newspaper subscription. Now, I DO need to know the news for my job, but we get both Chicago dailies at work so I can catch up there. However, the paper always sits there seeming to be one more thing to consume. I do love reading the paper in the morning, but I just haven’t had time lately. And I have so many good books and magazines laying around, as well as other projects. Combine all of that with my anger at the Chicago Tribune (I work for their competition, and they are rolling out some stuff to try and take our business) and my desire to save money for England and–the end. No more daily paper.

I’m certainly going to get it again when I come back from England, but for now it’s nice not to have to pick it up every morning, read it, recycle it…I do feel sort of free.

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